The impact of Andrew Bogut: “I’ll set physical screens and if they go down, they go down”

Quick bit from Andrew Bogut on the state of the Warriors, currently tied 1-1 in this series heading into Friday’s Game 3…

But mostly a few of us asked Bogut about the impact of his crushing screens, particularly his open-court flooring of Andre Iguodala in Game 2, which seemed (and was pointed out to me by several Warriors sources later) to be a visceral momentum-changer.

Bogut, as is his nature, was more than happy to talk about his physical role and yes, there’s no doubt the Warriors haven’t had a center like this in a long time.

—–ANDREW BOGUT snippets from gaggle interview/

-Q: What’s the team’s mentality with David Lee out and Steph Curry now apparently a question mark for Game 3?

-BOGUT: We’ll be OK. I think everyone at this point of the season is banged up somewhat, in some way or another, on every team. Obviously we have great trainers, great masseusses, so guys were in there recovering yesterday and today, making sure they’re all right tomorrow.

I anticipate that Steph will play and everyone will be fine.

-Q: How much has it helped you to get two days off after both of the first two games of this series?

-BOGUT: A little bit, yeah. My ankle’s obviously feeling a little bit better with two days rest. But after this game it gets a little intense with every other day a game. But the two days have definitely… I’ve taken them in stride and they’ve been good.

-Q: Do you feel like you’re in as good a rhythm as you’ve been in this year?

-BOGUT: Yeah, unfortunately it’s waited to happen for the playoffs–it’s frustrating. But it’s the right time of the year to get that form back.

Obviously it’s been a good two games for me personally I feel, and not just stat-wise. I think patrolling the paint and being physical and making sure–my main goal is to win the rebound-count every game, not personally, as a team.

So if we win the rebound-count, we have a good chance to win this series.

-Q: What’s different for you when David Lee’s out?

-BOGUT: Offensively, just make sure I roll hard and keep space for our shooters. I think that’s what David brings–obviously he demands double-teams on the post so he creates a lot of room for Steph and Klay.

So I need to make sure that I’m putting pressure on the defense –if they leave me to go to a shooter, I get the rebound or an easy basket.

-Q: You’ve been screening hard, too. How important is that in the playoffs–to be that physical?

-BOGUT: It’s real important. Those things don’t show up on a highlight reel or a tape, but the reason why a lot of guys like Steph and Klay are getting open is myself, Festus, Draymond, we’re setting hard picks.

Every now and then you get a moving screen, so be it, but we’ve been setting hard screens all season. The more we do that, and they get doubled, we get easy baskets, too.

-Q: Do you take pride in that?

-BOGUT: We have to screen. If you’re going to go screen somebody, you’d better hit him. Otherwise, it’s kind of pointless. I think that’s the mindset that I have.

Every now and then, like I said, I’ll get an offensive foul, but I’ll take one or two a game to make sure I’m hitting a guy to get Steph or Klay open.

-Q: You looked like you really were measuring up Iguodala in the open court. Did you just see that developing?

-BOGUT: Well, they were pressuring us full-court, they were trying to get into our guys full-court. Obviously the unwritten rule in the NBA is if they’re going to do that, we try to sneak one up on ’em.

-Q: You think that kind of physicality affected the Nuggets for the rest of the game a little?

-BOGUT: I think so, especially when they’re trying to pressure us full-court. I think we want to keep Steph and Klay as fresh as possible, and Jarrett Jack, because they’ve got the ball in their hands for 85, 90% of the game. We don’t want guys pressuring them full-court.

So when they do that, it’s a big guy’s responsibility to go and crack that guy once and then for the rest of the game he’s going to be looking around to make sure he doesn’t get hit again.

-Q: When you see Iguodala a little dazed…

-BOGUT: I never go out to hurt anybody or do anything cheap. I’ll set physical screens and if they go down, they go down.

Obviously it rattled him a little bit. I think he probably had a conversation with Kosta afterwards to call the screen. But it definitely was a big of a momentum-changer just because it took that pressure off of us a little bit.

They knew that when Festus and myself were out there, that if we’d set a couple more blind screens, they might get hurt.

-Q: And he was looking over his shoulder…

-BOGUT: The rest of the game. That’s what I was trying to do out there. I wasn’t trying to hurt him. I was just trying to let them know, ‘Hey, you can’t be pressuring our guys full-court and expect nothing to happen to you.’

You set a couple of those and then the pressure kind of died off and it was much easier for our guys.

-Q: How are you feeling offensively with your shot right now?

-BOGUT: Oh, it’s OK. It is what it is. My touch has been a little bit better this series but it’s still not where it needs to be. Nowhere near close, but I’m trying, trying my best.

This had me laughing the entire time – one of my favorite sports interviews yet. Glad he’s our enforcer. You really can’t overstate what he brings to this team.

niner

bogut curry and lee are injured. does not bode well for the future. they need to get backups who can start and play.

kyle Perizi

I think as the series goes forward and Bogut remains effective, it’s inevitable that Koufos will be asked to go Goon and provoke Bogut into some physical altercation ( ala Mike Riordan – Rick Barry ). I hope Bogut will be able to keep his cool and not get tossed when it happens.